Almost 11 years ago my daughter was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Were she accidentally to become pregnant--and please believe me, she is not in any way irresponsible, but accidents do happen even to the most careful--both her illness and the powerful drugs she takes to combat the disease would make it almost impossible for her to deliver a healthy child safely. She would be at great risk; her child would likely suffer anomalies.

I do not want to lose my daughter. And my daughter does not want to bring into this world a child who would suffer horribly. Should she ever have to make the painful decision to terminate a pregnancy, I certainly would not want her forced to endure an ultrasound that is obviously meant only to shame her. The cruelty of that is appalling. Worse, I would not want her to have to travel to another state for a legal medical procedure.

Abortion is, according to the Supreme Court, a woman's right, and the medical procedure must remain available to all women, sick or well, rich or poor. Our current governor and attorney general, however, seem to believe that the constitutional rights of women should be denied, even to very sick women like my daughter, as well as to victims of violent crime. I cannot imagine losing my only child because of the unfeeling actions of our attorney general, our governor, and members of the state legislature. These politicians are certainly not "pro life." They clearly have no regard for the life of my daughter and women like her. They have no regard for women at all.